Verses 10.26–10.30
अश्वत्थ: सर्ववृक्षाणां देवर्षीणां च नारद: | गन्धर्वाणां चित्ररथ: सिद्धानां कपिलो मुनि:
aśvatthaḥ sarvavṛkṣāṇāṁ devarṣīṇāṁ ca nāradaḥ / gandharvāṇāṁ citrarathaḥ siddhānāṁ kapilo muniḥ / / 10.26
Of all the trees, I am the Banyan tree and of all the sages of the gods, I am Nārada. Of the Gandharvas, I am Chitraratha. Of the realized souls, I am the sage Kapila.
उच्चै:श्रवसमश्वानां विद्धि माममृतोद्भवम् | ऐरावतं गजेन्द्राणां नराणां च नराधिपम्
uccaiḥśravas amaśvānāṁ viddhi mām amṛtodbhavam / airāvataṁ gajendrāṇāṁ narāṇāṁ ca narādhipam / / 10.27
Of the horses, know me to be Ucchaiṣravas born of the nectar generated from the churning of the ocean; Of the elephants, Airāvata and of men, the king.
आयुधानामहं वज्रं धेनूनामस्मि कामधुक् | प्रजनश्चास्मि कन्दर्प: सर्पाणामस्मि वासुकि:
āyudhānāmahaṁ vajraṁ dhenūnāmasmi kāmadhuk / prajanaścāsmi kandarpaḥ sarpāṇāmasmi vāsukiḥ / / 10.28
Of the weapons, I am the thunderbolt. Of the cows, I am Kamadhenu; For begetting children, I am the god of love. Of the snakes, I am Vasuki.
अनन्तश्चास्मि नागानां वरुणो यादसामहम् | पितृणामर्यमा चास्मि यम: संयमतामहम्
anantaścāsmi nāgānāṁ varuṇo yādasām aham / pitṛṇāmaryamā cāsmi yamaḥ saṁyamatāmaham / / 10.29
Of the serpents, I am Ananta. Of the water deities, I am Varuṇa. Of the ancestors, I am Aryama and of the ones who ensure discipline, I am Yama.
प्रह्लादश्चास्मि दैत्यानां काल: कलयतामहम् | मृगाणां च मृगेन्द्रोऽहं वैनतेयश्च पक्षिणाम्
prahlādaścāsmi daityānāṁ kālaḥ kalayatāmaham / mṛgāṇāṁ ca mṛgendro’haṁ vainateyaśca pakṣiṇām / / 10.30
Of the Daitya (demons), I am Prahlad and of the reckoners, I am time. Of the animals, I am the king of animals (lion) and of the birds, I am Garuda.
Kṛṣṇa says among the trees He is the banyan tree, aśvatthaḥ sarva vṛkṣānāṁ (10.26). The banyan tree develops its root-like structures from the branches. These grow into the earth as secondary roots. The metaphysical meaning of the banyan tree is that just as the banyan tree grows its roots upside down unlike other trees, the spiritual person shuns the illusory outer world, the world that most people run after. Instead, he goes inwards towards the Absolute. Vibhūti Yogaḥ You Are The Ultimate 783 In a later chapter Kṛṣṇa says that the leaves of the banyan tree are the Vedas. He who knows this tree is the knower of the Vedas.
Of all the spiritually enlightened Masters, the Ṛṣis, Kṛṣṇa says He is Nārada. Nārada is considered the greatest of all devotees. His mind is immersedinrememberingViṣṇu,foreverchanting‘Nārāyaṇa,Nārāyaṇa’. Kṛṣṇa identifies Himself with His greatest devotee. Of the Gandharvas, the celestial beings, Kṛṣṇa says He is Citraratha. Gandharvas are celestial beings skilled in music and they are guardians of the soma juice—the nectar of the divine beings. Citraratha is the king of the Gandharvas. I Am the Complete Being Among the Siddhas, the complete beings, the Self-realized persons, Kṛṣṇa says He is Kapila, the complete sage. Kapila is the author of the Sāṅkhya Yoga system of philosophy, which deals with the elements of the physical Universe and the spiritual world.
He is also the founding father of Mahānirvāṇi Pīṭha—Kapila Sarvajña Pīṭha. Kapila is considered an incarnation of Viṣṇu and Mahādev. Listen. Śrī Kṛṣṇa is the greatest follower of Sāṅkhya Yoga of Mahānirvāṇi Pīṭha, the oldest apex body of sanātana-dharma. Understand, after the first chapter, Arjuna Viṣāda Yogaḥ, the first words that come out of Bhagavān’s mouth are Sāṅkhya Yoga—nai’naṁ chindanti śastrāṇi nai ’naṁ dahati pāvakaḥ (2.23). I can be sure that Kṛṣṇa was filled with Kapila. So, here Bhagavān introduces Himself saying, ‘Among the perfect complete beings, I am Kapila—siddhānāṁ kapilo muniḥ (10.26).’ This means that in Kṛṣṇa’s time, Kapila was the star of the spiritual world. That is why He mentions Kapila.
I can see the whole compassion of Kapila. I know for sure that he was the first man who started thinking. Till then, thinking was not part of humanity. The first human being on planet Earth who started thinking and experienced completion was Kapila. Kapila Muni is one of the great Incarnations celebrated in Śrīmad Bhāgavatam. There is a beautiful book called Kapila Gītā, Kapila’s teachings to his mother, Devāhuti recorded in Śrīmad Bhāgavatam and other books Kapila’s Sāṅkhya Sūtra and Sāṅkhya Kārika based on his philosophy. When I was studying them, I found such beautiful expressions! If you read Kapila, you won’t find a single moral lesson or even a definition of morality or immorality.
But, the followers of Kapila will be the most beautiful moral beings on planet Earth, because He just puts you into the natural flow of your being. You don’t hide anything from others and yourself. You are not afraid of anything that is within or outside you. What pristine purity! Kapila is the definition of the natural law of Existence, the innate intelligence. I tell you, Kapila is as beautiful as the gopikās of Bhāgavatam, as intelligent as Kṛṣṇa’s Gītā, and as natural as Dharmarāja (name of Yudhiṣṭra, the righteous king). Only with certain completion, can you understand the intelligence, beauty, and naturalness, all that can flow together in one space, that is Kapila.
Next, Ucchaiśravas is the legendary snow-white horse that emerged during the churning of the ocean of milk described in the Bhāgavatam. According to the history, the devas, the good, oppressed by the asuras, the evil, appealed to Lord Viṣṇu for help. Viṣṇu directed devas to churn the ocean of milk upon which Viṣṇu rests, using Meru, the mountain, as the staff and Vāsuki, the serpent, as the rope. Viṣṇu became the base as a tortoise upon which Meru rested. Since the devas did not have the strength to do the job alone, they took the help of the asuras promising them a share in whatever materialized. During the churning, various divine entities emerged.
Among these were the divine horse, Ucchaiśravas, and the four-tusked king of the elephants, Airāvata, whom Indra took as his mount. As part of the churning process, a deadly poison hālahāla also emerged that threatened to take the lives of the devas and asuras. Śiva came to their rescue and drank the poison. Finally, the nectar of immortality emerged. Viṣṇu, in the form of a beautiful damsel Mohini Vibhūti Yogaḥ You Are The Ultimate 785 kept the asuras occupied, while He allowed the devas to drink the amṛta, nectar of immortality, and become invincible. This is a metaphysical representation signifying how we are pushed and pulled by desires in our lives.
From this churning in our life, various products emerge. The nectar of immortality emerges when we offer our entire being to the Divine, as we go beyond the push and pull of desires, beyond life and death. Then we dwell in ultimate bliss. There may be obstacles in the path. Yet, the Master supports and protects us during our churning, as we endeavor to realize the ultimate state. Just as Śiva drank the poison that came out as a result of churning the ocean, the Master holds the disciple steady as the unconscious root patterns, saṁskāras rise to the surface during our spiritual maturing. Kṛṣṇa says, among the weapons, He is vajra, the thunderbolt.
This is the weapon of Indra, king of the demigods. Viṣṇu is considered to be present in the vajra. Indra was specifically given this weapon—the thunderbolt, for a purpose. Kṛṣṇa does not choose His own weapon, the cakra, the mighty discus. Instead he used Indra’s vajra that was made from the bones of the great sage Dadhici, who gave up his life to destroy the evil Vṛtāsura. Among the cows, He says He is the sacred cow, Kāmadhuk or Kāmadhenu, which also emerged during the churning of the ocean. In the Hindu way of life, the cow is worshipped for her essential utility. Kāmadhuka is considered to be the cow that grants all wishes and is the mother of all cows.
Kṛṣṇa says, for begetting children, He is the god of love, the basis for procreation. He says He is the Vāsuki of serpents. Vāsuki is the king of snakes. Vāsuki was used as the rope and he wound himself around Meru, the staff, for churning the ocean of milk. Kṛṣṇa says, among the nāgas, non-poisonous snakes or creatures of the nether world, He is Ananta, the many-hooded serpent who forms the bed of Lord Viṣṇu. He is said to support all the planets on his various hoods, including the Earth. Among the water beings, Kṛṣṇa says He is Varuṇa, the god of the mightiest water body, the ocean. Among the ancestors, Kṛṣṇa says He is Aryamā, one of the Ādityas, who presides over a planet occupied by the energy bodies of our ancestors.
Of the ones who ensure discipline, Kṛṣṇa says He is Yama, the Lord of death. Death is the perfect equalizer of all beings. Death is the only certain thing in the life of all beings and it treats everyone exactly the same whether they are big or small, rich or poor. So the Lord of death, Yama, ensures perfect discipline. The Saṃskṛit word yama means both discipline and death. Yama is the first of the eight limbs of Patañjali’s Aṣṭāṅga Yoga. Of the Daityas, Kṛṣṇa says He is Prahlād—prahlādaś cāsmi daityanāṁ (10.30). The Daityas are considered to be a race of beings that warred against the demigods. Prahlād was the son of a powerful Daitya King, Hiraṇyakaśipu.
Prahlād was a pious child, an embodiment of integrity. The young Prahlād is a supreme example of devotion. His life is the example that total surrender to the Divine is possible and that such surrender leads the Divine to completely care for His devotees, in all situations and at all times. Of the reckoners, Kṛṣṇa says He is Kāla, Time itself—kālaḥ kalayatām aham (10.30). Time is the ultimate reckoner. No being exists who can beat Time. Irrespective of who it is, Time always moves on. It cannot be stopped by anyone. Of the animals, Kṛṣṇa says He is the Lion, king of the jungle. Among birds, He says He is Garuḍa, king of birds, the eagle who is the mount of Lord Viṣṇu. I Am Rama